Every Given Sunday

Notes From Around the Camps

by John Perrotto

All through the Hot Stove League, the Chicago Cubs took their share of heat for signing right hander Jason Marquis to a three-year, $21-million contract in the offseason. Of course, it did take a lot of faith to give that kind of money to a pitcher who had a 6.02 ERA last season, the worst among the 41 National League pitchers who logged the 162 innings necessary to be eligible for the league title.

Nevertheless, Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild doesn't think that represents too much concern. "I don't know that (Marquis) is a special project," he noted. "This is a guy that basically, for the better part of two, two and a half years, pitched pretty well. So it's really getting him back to seeing what he was doing when he was pitching well. And if we can enhance anything off that, then great."

Marquis' 2006 season went into the tank June 21, when he was hammered for 13 runs and 14 hits in a five-inning losing effort against the Chicago White Sox, inflating his season ERA from 4.55 to 5.53. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa needed Marquis to eat some innings after starter Mark Mulder had been injured the previous evening.

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